Hellobee Boards

I love making burrito bowls at home: rice, black beans, avocado, sour cream, cheese, tortilla chips! Add in some ground beef/chicken if I've got it around.

this week we made home made chicken fingers and fries! sliced up 1 chicken breast and breaded it with crumbs we already had, and sliced up one potatoe. fried it all! easy and cheap and super tasty!

Buying a whole chicken is one of our best ways to eat well, cheaply. A whole chicken is usually $5-7 and you’ve got lots of options. Usually we make chicken stock using leftover veggie ends (so, free!) and then for a few bucks extra make the following with the stock:
Risotto
Soup/stew base
Chicken and dumplings

And use the cooked chicken meat to make:
Chicken salad
Chicken enchiladas
Chicken tacos
Chicken pasta

We make $20 worth of stock from a $5 chicken. So easy, too, and so much more flavor and less sodium than canned stock/broth.

@FutureMrsMcK: Yes on the lentils and rice. We also have a weekly dinner date with five other couples and take turns hosting, and lentils and rice is a good way to feed a lot of people without breaking the bank

My quickest, cheapest meals are grilled cheese and tomato soup (from a can) or mac and cheese (from a box) with veggies (frozen broccoli or fresh tomato, bell pepper, etc.) and/or meat mixed in to make it heartier.

I like making a roast chicken, then making soup the next day, and a casserole the day after that like @alayaya.

I also like to make a pot roast in the crockpot or oven, then making quesadillas the next night, and pot roast/mushroom soup the day after that.

We had a meal the other night that was so GOOD, inexpensive and filling: It was collard and beet greens with bacon over polenta, topped with a fried egg. (or collard greens with grits and eggs if you aren't fancy.)

cost breakdown (and I'm probably over-exaggerating here):
2 eggs 50 cents (locally raised),
greens (organic, local, from CSA w/bacon and onion) $3, polenta (corn meal, milk, water, butter, some parm) $3.

So maybe $6.50 for 2 meals and a lunch? It'd be even cheaper if you used conventional eggs, milk and produce.

Eggs!

Costco has some great bulk savings, as well as some local farmers if you buy weekly the farm fresh type.

- Omelettes with any left over scraps/veggies/meats/cheeses
- crust-less quiche using the same method of throwing together whatever I can scrounge
-Frittata
-Fried, Scrambled, Poached, Hard boiled
-Egg salad

It does get boring...but if your in a pinch it's quite filling and cost effective.

My favorite is rice, beans, and a fried egg on top. I like to get dried beans and cook them in big batches in the crock pot.

@regberadaisy: we don't eat beef much haha!! We eat 75% organic and all of our meat is organic for sure, most of our produce is. It's REALLY hard.. but it's a priority. So we have no "fun" money ever. We don't buy clothes, we don't get babysitters, go to movies, rent movies, eat out etc. It helps that we live less than a mile from DH's work so he bikes to work most days. If it's raining, he takes the car so we pay very little in gas.
Also, meat has now become more of a "fun" food. We only eat meat 2-3x a week or else we wouldn't be able to afford it.

Lots of ideas! I wish I liked beans...

Another thing I like to make is fried rice (we eat a lot of rice in our house)

Scramble a couple of eggs with some garlic. fry up some veggies, add leftover cooked rice and fry that for a while, then add the egg back in.

A couple favorites of mine (ours) - and an fyi - I'm a coupon shopper / stockpiler so my prices are based on what I have recently paid for these items and may be a bit higher if you're just picking them up at the store when not on sale and paired with coupons

Black bean and corn chili
2 cans black beans (or about 3 cups if you cook from dry like myself) $1.60 cans/$0.60 dried
2 cans diced tomatoes $2
1 can corn $0.75
1 cup beef broth $0.60
1 onion - $0.75
1 chili seasoning packet - $0.80
Cheddar cheese - $0.50
Sour Cream - $0.20
Cooked White Rice ($0.50), tortilla chips ($0.50), baked potatoes ($0.50) to serve the chili over
= about $7+
Makes two dinners for two and two lunch servings, coming to just over $1 each serving!

Channa Masala
2 cans chickpeas - $1.60
2 cans diced tomatoes - $2
1 onion - $0.75
1 small bag/box of frozen peas - $1
seasonings: curry powder, garam masala, ground ginger- $0.50
Cooked white rice - $0.50
Naan bread if you're feeling fancy - $2.99/pkg
= $6.35 ($9.35 with bread)
Makes two dinner servings for two and two lunches, again coming to about $1 each (with the naan it's about $1.60 each).

Southwest Breakfast bowl
3 cups grits - $0.70
1/2 cup cheddar or jack cheese - $0.50
1 can black beans (or 1 cup from dry, cooked beans) - $0.80 cans/$0.20 dry)
Seasonings - chili powder, cumin - $0.50
prepared salsa - $0.10
sour cream - $0.20
Prepare grits (with milk if you like, then add a little more to the cost), add cheese. Cook black beans in a skillet with seasonings to taste. Serve black beans over cheese grits with salsa and sour cream
= $2.20+
Makes two dinners

Love these ideas from everyone - I'll have to add a few things to my rotation!

@Coco Bee: @regberadaisy: we do what @yoursilverlining suggests and split a half cow with a friend.

@regberadaisy: I hear ya! We want to buy a quarter cow to save even more. Why don't you consider asking if they offer payment plans? Our CSA was like that, we pay a monthly fee instead one big upfront cost

@Coco Bee: if you have the space, i find they come up on craigslist fairly often.

My go-to cheapie meal is done in the crock pot... It's:
-1 can black beans
-1 can corn
-1 packet taco seasoning
-2 frozen chicken breasts

You can eat this over tortilla chips with salsa & cheese... Then with the leftovers I make chicken tortilla soup. Yum yum yum

Japanese Curry!! A big batch can last us 3-4 days and the most expensive item is probably the curry roux!

like this thread!!